James-

Who was James, Son of Alphaeus?
Notes by Thomas Madron

The Apostle James, who was the son of Alphaeus, is celebrated by Roman Catholics on May 3 and by Orthodox Christians on October 9. Protestants do not observe most feast days. James lived, of course, during the first century A.D. James was also called "James the Less" or "James the Younger." Because the Apostle Matthew also is the son of a man named Alphaeus, it has been thought that he and James were brothers. But the two were never referred to as brothers, whereas Peter and Andrew, and James (the Son of Zebedee) and John, were consistently referred to as being brothers. At Jesus' crucifixion there were several women who "had come with Jesus from Galilee to be of help to him," and one was Mary, "the mother of James and Joseph" (Matt. 27:55-56). In this passage from Matthew it was the mother of James the Less (son of Alphaeus) who is mentioned. It is important not to confuse this James with the other apostle James, the son of Zebedee, or James who was Jesus' brother.

Very little is known about the life and ministry of James, although, like the other Apostles, some traditional stories have filtered down to us over the centuries. The Coptic Church, suggests, for example that James was martyred. Then, "After he had preached the Gospel in many cities, he returned to Jerusalem and entered the temple of the Jews. He preached the gospel publicly and proclaimed the faith of the Lord Christ and His resurrection." According to the Coptic account, James was abducted and taken to Claudius, the deputy of the Roman emperor. It was claimed that James was preaching another king instead of Caesar. Claudius ordered him to be stoned to death, ..." In that rendition, the "faithful took his body and buried him beside the temple." If this story is historical, then it had to have taken place prior to 70 A.D., when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans during a revolution against Roman rule.

Another tradition concerning James is that he was a Zealot (a revolutionary group that fought the Romans) but he left them because he disagreed on their violent methods. If it is true that James was a Zealot in his youth he changed his mind to follow Christ. Eusebius says that James the Less led the life of a Nazarene both before and after he became an Apostle. The Nazarenes led very frugal lives, never eating meat, never shaved and rarely washed, but prayed most of the time. For these reasons James is also known as James the Just. James the Less may have looked much like Jesus and that similarity may explain why it was necessary for Judas to point Jesus out to the Romans. Tradition also suggests that James' mother Mary was a cousin of the virgin Mary which possibly explains the resemblance (or at least the story of the resemblance).

While very little is known about the ministry of James, Aziz S. Atiya, in his "History of Eastern Christianity" says," The seeds of Syrian Christianity had been sown in Jerusalem during the Apostolic age and the contention has been made that the first bishop of the Syrian church was none other than St. James of the Twelve Apostles, identified as St. James the Less'." Years after his death (perhaps by stoning, see above), James' remains were taken to the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople during the reign of Justinian. They were then transferred to Rome on Justinian's order around 572 AD. The remains were buried there in the Church of the Apostles Philip and James the Less, known from the 10th century as the Church of the Holy Apostles.

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